BlackBerry offering $10K per popular app to revitalize its app market

While once-dominant BlackBerry has been fighting to remain relevant in the government workplace, one area in which the company has always been in the back of the pack is in their app marketplace -- both in number of users and number of apps . Opening it up to the developer community would get them more ideas, but the reason Research In Motion has been dragging its feet in this area is a concern for quality.

With the release of Built for Blackberry this fall, developers will be able to submit apps for third-party review. Although this may seem like RIM is unleashing untested programs on its user base, which is contrary to BlackBerry’s stated philosophy, RIM is hoping to attract the best developers with the $10K Developer Commitment.

Essentially, if you submit a BlackBerry 10 WebWorks or Native app before the launch of BlackBerry 10, and your app has sales of at least $1,000, you're guaranteed to make $10,000. That is, if the app earns more than $1,000 but less that $10,000, BlackBerry will pay the difference. This level of financial commitment should do what RIM is hoping it will – draw developers who will make quality apps and, possibly, help revive BlackBerry in government and other circles.